Aspen native Maria Semple returns for literary festival debut

New York-based global selling fiction writer Maria Semple, raised in Aspen, will return to her childhood stomping grounds when she speaks at the first Aspen Literary Festival. She brings her signature wit and the success of her immensely popular novel “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” along with a preview of her upcoming book, “Go Gentle.”

The author attended Aspen Country Day School and used to deliver The Aspen Times as a kid. She will appear on a panel moderated by New York Times Book Review Editor Gilbert Cruz, from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 26, followed by a book signing. The event takes place at Aspen Community Church.

Semple will talk on the “Charting Their Own Course” panel about novels featuring “women who surmount challenging circumstances and refuse to conform to the futures laid for them. This conversation explores what it means to overcome personal and societal expectations and how to live when life takes you in unexpected directions.”

An additional book signing will take place from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Aspen Literary Headquarters Tent at the Red Brick Center for the Arts.

As a fifth and sixth grader, Semple delivered The Aspen Times newspapers, picking up stacks of papers from the alley behind Carl’s Pharmacy.

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“We used to buy them for a dime, sell them for 20 cents, and then people would give us a quarter and tell us to keep the change,” Semple said. “We thought it was all really exciting. We’d come home with a handful of sweaty coins. We held them all in our grubby hands. It was great.”

Even while away at boarding school at Choate Rosemary Hall and later at Barnard College, Aspen remained her home base. After graduation, Semple moved to New York City briefly, then to Los Angeles in 1988. She honed her comedic voice writing on hit TV shows “Mad About You” and “Arrested Development.” She later settled in Seattle in 2008, where the inspiration for “Bernadette” would strike.

Her 2012 New York Times bestseller follows Bernadette, a mother, wife, and eccentric former architect who fears leaving her house. When she disappears just before a family trip to Antarctica, her daughter Bee tries to find out why by reading her mom’s emails, documents, and letters. The book won an American Library Association Alex Award for Fiction, for books written for adults that also appeals to teens. 

Although Semple’s 2012 book became a 2019 movie starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Richard Linklater, the film took a more serious tone than the comedic novel.

“I like to start out really closely examining small day-to-day personal interactions, and from there just kind of spin out,” Semple said. 

She’s written other books as well, such as the bestseller “Today Will Be Different” and her debut novel, “This One is Mine.”

Although she believes her television writing background helped her with knowing how to build a story and plot structure, she admits feeling “out of my league” with prose initially. She chooses to be direct in her writing and put her ideas down in a clear way.

“I had never written a line of prose in my life before I wrote my first book,” Semple said. “I am not trying to be a fancy writer. I am just going to try to get my observations across and have a propulsive plot.”

Her new novel, “Go Gentle,” set for release by Putnam April 21, 2026, follows Adora Hazzard, a recently divorced philosopher in her 50s who moves to Manhattan. After curating a perfect single life, the story soon takes wild turn into mystery and romance.

For aspiring writers, the internationally successful author’s advice is straightforward: “Read voraciously and have the courage and wisdom to write what only you can write. Understand what makes you unique. You have to find your voice, and sticking with your voice is really scary.”

Semple is thrilled about returning to Aspen. She’s delighted to be staying at the Aspen Meadows Resort, and she’s looking forward to attending other writers’ panels.

“I have a lot of friends who are writers who are going, and there are a lot of writers I am looking forward to meeting. I can’t wait to fangirl over them,” she said. “I love festivals because I am obsessed with books and writers, so I am very excited and will be going to all the panels.” 

Semple added that she’s really looking forward to attending her brother’s panel. Lorenzo Semple is one of the featured writers at “Homegrown Stories — “A Celebration of Aspen’s Local Literary Talent” at 6 p.m. Sept. 25 at Explore Books.

For free tickets to panel “Maria Semple, Jade Change & Shelley Read: Charting Their Own Course” go to aspenliteraryfestival.org/speakers/maria-semple.